A need exists for the prevention of uncontrolled flow of fluids from storage tanks to the environment as a result of piping breaches, equipment failures, or acts of vandalism. This is the case for tanks used to store many different types of fluids, including various chemicals, acids, and fuel oils, to name only a few. One common example is a storage tank containing fuel oil for an oil-fired furnace in an adjacent house or other building.
To access the contents of such storage tanks, a manual shut-off valve is typically installed at the bottom of the tank, and piping is run from this valve to a pump for feeding the stored fluid to a furnace or other appliance. There have been many instances where piping from such valves has been sheared off either accidentally or deliberately. In recent years, deliberate damage to fuel oil shut-off valves has become a particular problem in some areas due to theft of the high-value copper tubing running from the fuel storage tank to the furnace. In some cases, even the manual shut-off valve itself can be either broken off or damaged to the point that all of the fluid flows out of the tank. Equipment failure, whether caused by a structural break or a seal failure, can also result in uncontrolled flow of fluid out of the tank into the environment. Such incidents can have drastic and severe environmental impacts costing very large amounts of money to rectify or remediate.